1 Corinthians 11:22

Don’t you have your own homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? No, I will not!

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Paul addresses the Corinthian church while rebuking their conduct at a shared meal. He speaks to believers who are gathering for fellowship but are allowing status and hunger to divide the group.

The words — The Greek μὴ (mē) operates as a negative rhetorical marker that introduces Paul’s sharp question. The verb ἔχετε (echete) literally means "you have," underscoring that the Corinthians already possess private dwellings for ordinary meals.

The thread — The concern for the poor runs directly into Proverbs 17:5, which warns that mocking the poor insults their Maker. It also parallels James 2:5, which records God’s choice of the poor to be rich in faith and inherit the kingdom.

Why it lands — The text requires believers to reserve private homes for daily eating and drinking rather than using the church gathering to shame those without resources. Readers must determine whether their communal practices protect the vulnerable or enforce social exclusion.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

Cross-references

Proverbs 17:5 He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.
Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
1 Corinthians 10:32 Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God—
1 Timothy 3:15 in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
1 Corinthians 11:2 Now I commend you for remembering me in everything and for maintaining the traditions, just as I passed them on to you.
1 Corinthians 11:17 In the following instructions I have no praise to offer, because your gatherings do more harm than good.
1 Timothy 3:5 For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for the church of God?
1 Corinthians 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.